Metabotropic glutamate receptors: Potential drug targets

The neurotransmitter glutamate activates not only ionotropic receptors, which mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission, but also metabotropic receptors. The latter form a large, heterogeneous family of G protein-coupled receptors with specific functions in normal as well as in pathological situations. The diverse cellular responses mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptors and their distinct expression patterns in different brain systems render these receptors potential drug targets with a variety of possible mechanisms of action.